


Strangers

by SkyTheLoner



Series: They Don't Know What The World Has Done [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Friendship, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 03:59:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11889531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyTheLoner/pseuds/SkyTheLoner
Summary: Peridot is interrupted typing a report by a stranger, and they talk. She ends up befriending him.





	Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in the same AU as "They Have their Wishes".
> 
> \- The "Temple Gardens" are this universe's equivalent of the Kindergartens.
> 
> \- The Diamante Authority (DA) is this universe's equivalent of the Great Diamond Authority, and it is a company that terraforms land to build houses and the like.
> 
> \- Miss Amarillo is Yellow Diamond, while Miss Diamante is Blue Diamond.

"Hey..."

Peridot's gaze drifted to the person who spoke to her, her tablet on her lap as she typed up a very important report for Miss Amarillo, one of the three owners of Diamante Authority. Her boss needed an update on the status of a plot of land the company planned to buy. With a grumble of annoyance, she decided to finish page 4 of the report, including information about the habits and animals living there, mostly for Miss Diamante's sake. Miss Diamante wanted to preserve some of the wildlife for whatever reason, but Peridot wasn't going to voice her opinion of that matter.

Her fake, unmovable hand clicked away on the screen, though half of the time in wouldn't response to the weird material coating her arm/hand/whatever. She quickly saved the file, glancing at the stranger sitting next to her on the bench, their black - no, she thought, dark brown - eyes wide, curiously shining in their depths. The child wasn't part of the DA, Peridot noted, her dark green gaze examining the stranger's wrists, bare of any gemstone bracelet or metallic band. They blinked, staring with friendly eyes. Still, she was annoyed by his presence, but they were just a kid.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you to not speak to strangers?" Peridot questioned to the child, her gaze sharp, and she set her tablet down beside her with her one real hand. The child clenched the collar of their shirt tightly, their eyes downcast. Peridot raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Well..." they began, voice soft and quiet, "she died, so..."

That wasn't an answer she expected to hear, and she stared at him for a while, then nodded. "Oh," she muttered softly, her voice quiet. He sounded cheerful a moment ago, she thought, an odd feeling causing her throat to begin to close up. Guilt. Pity. Sympathy, she noticed, rubbing her eyes as tears started to form.

Taking a deep breath to clear her head, she removed her glasses, wiping them on her sleeve. Putting them back on and looking at the small, chubby boy sitting on the bench to the left of her, she stared at the odd metal necklace hanging around his neck. She asked quietly, "Did you know her?"

The boy flinched, and he pressed a hand against his forehead, reminding Peridot that she packed a first aid kit in the bag beside her. "Childbirth." When Peridot opened her mouth to apologize for asking, he added, "But since I never knew her, I can't miss her."

She nodded, understanding perfectly, wondering why she was talking to a total stranger when she had a report to turn in in four days. Miss Amarillo needed this report. And yet... she was wasting time speaking to a poor, uneducated middle class boy. She rubbed her arm, examining the fake hand attached to it that her family was only able to obtain because Miss Amarillo knew them, and she knew Peridot was incredibly smart. But, with only one hand, she couldn't type in codes easily.

She was learning how to use her new arm, but for now...

"What's wrong with your hand?"

Peridot jumped, startled out of her musing by the young boy's sudden question. Glaring at him, she replied, "I was born... without a hand." She paused, thinking about the report she had glanced at when she was younger - sixteen - even thought she wasn't supposed to. But she was older now! And sixteen was old enough to know the truth, so why did her parents and Miss Amarillo scowl at her when she looked at them that time? "Wait, no," she said, catching the boy's attention, "that would be false."

If she remembered the files correctly, it said something about a bacterial infection in her left hand, starting in her pointer finger, then spreading. Her hand had to be amputated to prevent it from spreading to other parts of her body. Not that she knew where and when she obtained such a infection from. "My hand had to be amputated-" She paused, glancing at him. "Do you know what that means?"

He appeared deep in thought for moment before nodding, and Peridot raised an eyebrow. Impressive for an eight year old. Or was he ten? Whatever.

She fiddled with her hands, feeling the odd material under her sensitive fingertips, thinking about her next words carefully. Should she really be sharing this type of information with a boy she barely knew? He seemed very smart for his age, she noted, glancing over at her tablet, wondering if she should continue writing up her report for Miss Amarillo. Her boss didn't like it when she failed to turn in reports on time. Though the main owner of the DA scared her so much more than her boss. Hell, no one even knew her real name!

Miss Diamante wasn't that much better, according to her current coworker, a skinny girl named Lapis(maybe that was her nickname?). Lapis knew about this area.

"Anyway," she began, "it was because of an infection in my hand. It could have spread, so..." She didn't know much about biology, mostly technology and minerals. "I don't know of the bacteria's origin..." There was a silence.

"Umm... Oh," he replied, looking concerned, glancing at the barely visible wires under the fabric of her hand. She covered her hand instinctively, pulling it away swiftly. "Well," he said, "maybe it came from a zombie?" He was trying to brighten the mood, and Peridot rolled her eyes, barely amused by his attempt.

"Or a magic alien?" she suggested.

"Maybe," he said, chuckling a bit.

"Well," she said, her arm throbbing slightly with a bit of pain, but Peridot ignored it. "I... never remembered having my hand anyway." She fiddled with one of the waterproof bands connecting it to the covering on her arm carefully. With that fixed - he watched her - the boy tapped her shoulder.

"Can't miss something you never knew of though," he commented.

"True."

She winced as the pain grew. The boy noticed this, reaching forward.

"H-hey, are you-"

She pushed his hand away roughly using her fake hand, and he flinch when the metal and fabric touched him. Her rubbed where it made contact, his eyes worried. She didn't need a total stranger worrying about the pain, it was normal. Just phantom pains. "Phantom pain," she grumbled, feeling a tiny spark of pain from her arm.

The pain slowly faded. "See? I'm fine!"

The boy nodded slowly, blinking. Sighing, he shook his head, and he said, "So, me and my family are visiting the Temple Gardens, do you know about them?"

"Do I?" Peridot asked, her eyes becoming wide. Finally, something she was good at talking about! "I work for the amazing Miss Amarillo! I know all about the Temple Gardens! The Diamante Authority constructs them!"

"The Diamante Authority?" he echoed, confused.

She continued, "I know everything about them!"

"Cool!" he said, excited. "My family doesn't really like them though... They said they mess up the land."

"Mess it up?" she echoed, then shook her head, her glasses almost flying off her face. "The Temple Garden's houses tons of people - important people! Isn't that good?" Peridot was confused by this. The DA helped so many people get homes, who cared about the few thing that were destroyed to make them! They weren't important, right? But it was wrong to disregard those others...

If Miss Amarillo didn't pay for her new hand, where would Peridot be now? She growled, feeling puzzled by everything.

"So, what  _is_  your name?" she asked him.

"Oh," he said, "my name's Steven." He held out his hand, waiting, smiling.

She scowled and asked, "What's with the necklace?"

"Oh," Steven muttered, looking at the chain around his neck. He lifted it up, revealing a gemstone hanging from it. Some type of quartz. "This was my mom's."

"It looks custom made," Peridot noted.

"It was."

"Interesting. Anyway, my name's Peridot!"

"Wow, cool!" His eyes were shining with excitement. He leaned forward, pointing to the bracelet on her wrist. He examined the peridot gemstone embedded into the golden hued metal, looking curious. "My friend wears a bracelet like that," Steven commented, glancing up at her.

"They do?" she asked curiously, giving Steven her full attention now.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "But hers is a blue-ish metal with a smelly blue gem."

So, did his friend work for Miss Diamante? "A smelly blue gem?" she echoed.

"Yeah, lapis."

Peridot froze, her heart seeming to cease beating for a minute. He knew someone from the DA! "O-oh." She tried to calm down.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes!" she blurted out loudly, panicking. There was no way a kid like this could know anyone from there. That... would be dumb!

"Okay..." She could tell he didn't believe her. Whatever.

"Why talk to a stranger?" asked Peridot. Her eyes drifted to Steven's necklace.

The boy shrugged. "Are we strangers?"

Sighing, she shook her head, scowling at the short boy, muttering, "Yes!" Why would she, with all of her importance, be friends with someone of his low status? Miss Amarillo would be disappointed in her!

"Nah, we're friends!" Before she could protest, Steven added, "And friends meet each other places! Like... Five PM, here, tomorrow!" He quickly jumped down from the bench, turning to face her with joy. She glared at him, then thought of their talk earlier. Maybe she should talk to him. But she would never become his friend. Right?

Peridot was left in silence to complete her report. She grabbed her tablet, reopening the file, beginning to type.

**I have meet an outsider of the DA with possible knowledge of a member from Miss Diamante's section of the company. The individual is known as "Steven". He knows of the Temple Gardens, and he appears to oppose them. He has set up a meeting at the following time:**

**5 P.M. on March XX, 20XX. The location is the central location of the Prime Temple Garden.**

**I will meet up with him, befriend him, and I will report anything believed to be important.**

**Sincerely,**

**Peridot F. C. [52476]**

She pressed the save button on the top of the page, then closed the window.  _And maybe I might just end up becoming his friend for real,_  she thought.


End file.
